Newcomers Dan + Shay Reveal How They Met … in a Living Room Tent

Sometimes the best collaborations can develop from the unlikeliest of places. For country newcomers Dan + Shay, this is especially true.

Comprised of two very talented musicians, Dan + Shay, also known as Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney, have only been playing together since December 2012, ever since they met by happenstance. The duo met in Nashville and began songwriting together for the first time in a tent -- a ramshackle fort set up in the living room of Smyers' home.

"We met in December, actually, at his house, at a party," Mooney recalls to Taste of Country/Clay Moden. "I get to this party, I'm walking in this old house," he laughs, adding, "It was a terrible house, of course, a typical Nashville starting-artist house."

When he walked through the Smyers' home, he finally came to the living room. Or, rather, the campsite.

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"I'm walking into the living room, and there is just a tent ... it was borderline fort-ish," the singer remembers with a chuckle. Smyers jumps in to explain, "I had no money to pay for heat, so I went to the thrift store and bought a bunch of sheets. [We] tented out the whole living room, and we retained all the heat in there. We all just hung out, huddled around ... Shay and I were jamming that night, and we've been writing three songs a day every since."

It's safe to say that the frigid house temperatures didn't freeze up the guys' talent in the least, as their debut single '19 You + Me' has been quite the hit with country music fans. In fact, Dan + Shay's music is heating up Music City, and we predict the duo will be on fire with their smooth vocals, catchy chorus and riveting personalities for quite a while. They may not even need the tent anymore!